(Eagle News)–The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) has called on the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
“We ask them (SC) to let the right process take us to the truth. At this point, the legal and proper process is impeachment and not quo warranto,” Ateneo president Jose Ramon Villarin said in a statement on Saturday, April 14.
According to Villarin, the process of impeachment, which the Constitution says is the way to remove an impeachable officer, should be “allowed to unfold, to guarantee the impeachable officer due process of fundamental law.”
He said the filing of the quo warranto “circumvents the clear dictates of the Constitution.”
In the first place, he said Sereno already “recognizes the propriety of the impeachment process and her responsibility to answer the charges raised against her.”
“We all stand to benefit from allowing the impeachment to proceed because it will show us the primary importance of the law and teach all who wield power that no one is above the law,” he said.
The university community “cannot not” speak on the matter, because he said “it should alarm us when several justices who will decide on whether the Chief Justice has sufficiently complied with the requirement are among those who have accused her of wrongdoing in that regard, during hearings conducted by Congress, thus effectively prejudging the matter.”
“The University expresses its dismay and disappointment at how vicious and malicious the search for accountability has become. It cannot not speak,” he added.
The quo warranto petition that seeks to have Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice nullified was filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
Calida noted what he said was Sereno’s lack of integrity for her alleged failure to file her complete Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
An impeachment complaint has also been filed against Sereno, who has been on leave since March 1.